(LEBANON, Ill., Jan. 28)—Sophomore center
Scott Roberts (Philadelphia, Pa./Bensalem) (Philadelphia, Pa./Bensalem) and freshman center
Nick Dreyer (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) each posted a hat trick in leading the McKendree College hockey team to a 15-3 victory Saturday at home against Wheaton College.
Sophomore center
Kyle Ilges (Highland, Ill./Highland) (Highland, Ill./Highland) and sophomore defenseman
Shawn McBride (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) each added two goals as the Bearcats won their final home game of the 2005-06 regular season. McKendree, which was 10-8-1 at the U.S. Ice Sports Complex this season, improves to 19-14-1 overall with its fourth consecutive victory. The Bearcats matched their win total from the inaugural 2004-05 season, when the team went 19-13-1.
McKendree will play its final three regular-season games on the road, beginning with next Saturday’s game at East Alton against SIU-Edwardsville. The Feb. 4 game is set to begin at 8:15 p.m.
Against Wheaton, the visitors scored the first goal of the contest before McKendree responded with 14 unanswered goals. Junior defenseman
David Padgett (Belleville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) (Belleville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) started the scoring frenzy for the Bearcats at the 12:53 mark of the first period before Roberts gave McKendree the lead for good at the 10:59 mark. The Bearcats led 4-1 after one period before exploding for nine goals in the second period.
McKendree pushed its lead to 14-1 early in the third period before Wheaton answered with two of the final three goals of the afternoon.
Freshman
Mike Stier (Belleville, Illinois/) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) and sophomore
Matt Brandt (Waterloo, Illinois/) (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) split time in goal for McKendree, with Stier playing the first two periods to earn the victory. Stier stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced against Wheaton. Stier improved to 6-5-1 on the year.
